Pearse Irish Whiskey – 5yr old Single Malt (46% ABV)

As you may have read here, Pearse Irish Whiskey launched 4,000 bottles of their own 5yr old Single Malt last Thursday evening. Those 4,000 bottles come from a vatting of 12 casks, all ex-bourbon. The vast majority of that stock will be on sale in Supervalu with some also being made available at select on-trade shops such as Celtic Whiskey Shop and L.Mulligans Whiskey Shop with a RRP of €79.99. I haven’t picked up a bottle myself yet but I do have a bottle of the Cask Strength 1,000 bottle release and I must say, the packaging and bottle are nothing short of lush. Massive attention to detail throughout.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend the launch last Thursday due to family commitments but I was fortunate enough that the whiskey fairy delivered a sample of it this week. Bottled at that magic 46%, this is all natural colour and non-chill filtered. Here’s a quick run down of my thoughts upon tasting it.

Nose – Very light. Loads of malt with some vanilla, clove rock and a slight lemon twist to it.

Palate – LOADs of green apples. Granny Smith apples and all! Some citrus fruits and a pepper spice but I’m still getting mostly apples. Wasn’t expecting that from what I nosed!

Finish – Medium finish that still has all the apples.

Overall – An exceptionally different beast to it’s higher ABV. brother and it’s immediately apparent it is different juice with totally different characteristics. This is a real light and easy to drink whiskey but for me, it still needs some more aging. That being said, it’s most likely the best 5yr old whiskey I have tried. It has it’s own unique Pearse character. It’s own profile. There is nothing quite like it on the market and that’s a great thing. It is simply made and simply aged in standard methods. No fancy finishing here. No fancy casks that could cover mistakes or faults in the distillate. It is just a stunning proclamation of “this is what we do” and a great show case of the quality to come. I can’t wait to see what it will become.

This sample was provided free of charge to the author. No monetary reward was received for the review. The review, as with all reviews, was written subjectively and not influenced in anyway.